Upstreet Pickleball Paddle Reviews and Comparison 2018

Upstreet is a young company located in Cedar City, Utah which is a hot place to play pickleball and has a growing player base in part thanks to a large number of pickleball courts and pickleball clubs such as the program at Southern Utah University (SUU).

The thing that struck me most when I first saw the paddle line from Upstreet was their very unique and creative graphic designs on the paddle faces: including a jungle theme with plants or a pine forrest while another has a multi-colored paint spatter pattern.

​This is not a high-end premium paddle but it's a good quality composite core graphite paddle and for the price range it normally sells at, in my opinion it's a good value compared to others in the same range. It has a sturdy feel, the polymer core makes it quiet and the has good feel for a mid priced graphite paddle.

One main drawback to the Upstreet graphite paddle is that it is NOT approved for USAPA tournaments, so if you are a competitive player- or think you may start competing in the future- this would not be the best paddle. For a list of approved paddles, take a look at some of our top picks for best graphite pickleball paddles.

It's a definite upgrade from a wooden paddle with more touch and feel. For a graphite paddle, the weight is slightly on the heavy side and at 8.6 ounces it just breaks into what we consider the "heavy" category (8.5 oz and up) compared to the lightest paddles on the market (under 7 ounces).

But for a beginner-intermediate player the extra weight can help give you extra power, especially when hitting from backcourt. Keep in mind a wood paddle would be somewhere in the 10-14 ounce range so this paddle is lighter while still packing quite a bit of punch to your shots.

About weight: The paddle is advertised as "lightweight". This is someone debatable, a lot depends on perspective. If you are comparing it to a wood paddle, then yes it is quite a bit lighter. There are no official weight classes for the paddle market, different companies have different definitions.

Newer paddles that have come out in the past few years have gotten so light that the terms "lightweight, mid-weight, and heavy" continue to​ change and what used to be light doesn't seem so light anymore. The weight is still manageable and for a beginner looking at wood paddles, this will seem light.

The grip size on the Upstreet is 4.5 inches which is good for larger, taller players. It may be a bit large for shorter players with smaller hand grip.

Upstreet does offer a 12 month warranty against defects on all of their pickleball paddles.

If you're new to pickleball, that may not sound very heavy at all but wooden paddles are definitely in the very heavy category. Swing around these paddles for a couple hours and you'll definitely feel the difference a couple ounces makes. Some can weigh up to 13 ounces, so this one from Upstreet is actually not as heavy as some other wooden options on the market.

Wood paddle are very affordable so they can be a decent option for complete beginners, camps, YMCAs, schools and other people that are buying a large quantity of paddles on a limited budget.

For everyone else, wewould recommend skipping the wood category and upgrading to a beginner composite or graphite pickleball paddle . The Upstreet graphite paddle would be one of our top picks.

According to the Upstreet website, they describe their company philosophy as:

Upstreet Pickleball comprises of young entrepreneurs who operate under a simple business promise, "Deliver demonstrably superior, pleasingly different products with a 5 star customer service experience.".

Here is a quick but very cool intro video showing off Upstreet pickleball paddles in play, I love the quality of this video and the cool overhead effects of footage taken from a drone!

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